Shipping wrapper



1965 J. B. ANDREWS ETAL 3,203,618

SHIPPING WRAPPER Filed Oct. 28, 1963 m? M mww m M N N a WW 7 V a x United States Patent Office Patented Aug. 31, 1965 3,203,618 SI-HPPING WRAPPER James B. *Andrews, Sierra Madre, and John C. Fischer, Flintridge, Califi, assignors to St. Regis Paper *Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Oct. 28, 1963, Ser. No. 319,118 3 Claims. '(Cl. 229-40) This invention relates to Shipping wrappers and more particularly to an improved unitary single-use wrapper featuring a unitary tear strip so arranged as to encircle the article packaged therein and readily removable in a manner separating the wrapper into two portions readily withdrawable from the opposite ends of the article at its destination.

By the present invention there is provided a unitary plaque of suitable heavy-duty wrapping material formed in a size convenient for wrapping a given size article for protection during storage or shipment. The wrapper is made from inexpensive, durable material sufficiently large as to encircle with excess an article to be protected with the opposite ends of the wrapper projecting substantially beyond the opposite ends of the article. Extending transversely of the wrapper intermediate the opposite ends of the article to be enclosed is a specially prepared tear strip designed to be held pressed flush against the surface of the package encircled thereby until severed crosswise thereof whereupon the severed end portions of the tear strip can be pulled in opposite directions to separate the wrapper into two tubular portions readily withdrawable from the opposite ends of the article.

Another feature desirably present in the wrapper is the presence of a coating of pressure-sensitive material of a type adherent only to itself to the end that the projecting opposite ends of the assembled wrapper can be compressed against one another and securely held sealed by the cohesive properties of the coating material.

Another feature of the wrapper is the use of a laminated construction preferably having a corrugated inner layer to provide increased strength, durability, resilience, cushioning and better protection for the contents of the wrapper.

The tear strip constituting one of the important features of the invention extends crosswise of and preferably forms an integral part of the outer layer of the wrapping and includes at least two parallel rows of scorelines, perforations, or other equivalent type of weakening facilitating separation of the tear strip from the main body of the wrapper proper. This tear strip also characteristically includes a center line of weakening midway between its opposite edges to facilitate folding the tear strip crosswise of its length to strengthen the tear strip until such time as it is desired to detach it from the package. If a corrugated interior layer is present it is desirable that the corrugations be omitted from the tear strip proper with the result that the folding of the tear strip along its center brings the corrugation ends to either side thereof into abutting alignment with one another prior to proceeding with wrapping the plaque about the article to be shipped, a feature clearly illustrated in FIGURE 2.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved protective and shipping wrapper for smaller articles featuring a tear strip crosswise of its mid-portion and desirably constituting an integral part of the wrapper itself and so formed as to be readily separable from the wrapper to divide the latter into two portions to gain access to the wrapper contents.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a one-piece unitary shipping wrapper formed of flexible single or multiple layer material having a separable tear strip crosswise of its mid-portion and easily ruptured and severed from the wrapper proper to gain access to the wrapper contents.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a unitary single use shipping wrapper coated on its interior with pressure-sensitive material adherent only to itself for holding the wrapper closed and including a tear strip formed from a part of the wrapper itself and readily removable from the package to permit the opposite ends thereof to be withdrawn from the contents of the wrapper.

These and other more specific objects will appear upon reading the following specification and claims and upon considering in connection therewith the attached drawing to which they relate.

Referring now to the drawing in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the invention prepared in laminated form;

FIGURE 2 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 but showing the tear strip folded back upon itself longitudinally of its center line;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view showing the wrapper in the process of being assembled about a book or like article to be shipped;

FIGURE 4 shows the fully assembled package but with the tear strip severed crosswise thereof and in the process of being removed from the package; and

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view on an enlarged scale taken along line 55 on FIGURE 4.

Referring more particularly to FIGURE 1, there is shown an illustrative embodiment of the invention Wrapper designated generally 10 and there shown as comprising a single plaque of single-face corrugated paperboard. Plaque 10 includes a flat smooth surface face sheet 12 of Kraft paper or the like bonded to two separate strips 13, 14 of corrugated paper or the like flexible sheet material. Corrugated portions 13, 14 have their adjacent ends lying parallel to but spaced from one another along the opposite edges of an intervening tear strip 15 forming an integral part of face sheet 12.

Tear strip 15 may be of any suitable width, as for example 2 inches, and is provided with at least two and prefer-ably three weakened parallel lines 19, 20, 21 lying parallel to one another with lines 19 and 21 being closely adjacent the ends of corrugated strips 13 and 14, and line 20 extending generally centrally between lines 19 and 21. These weakened lines may be formed in any suit-able manner as by scoring the face sheet, perforating it at intervals, or in any other known manner. The purpose of the weakened lines is to expedite folding the tear strip along its longitudinal center line 20, 2t) and to facilitate severing it from the remainder of the wrapper along lines 19 and 21 when opening the wrapper in a manner to be described more fully presently.

From the foregoing it will be understood that the laminated single-face corrugated shipping wrapper shown in FIGURE 1 is formed in one unitary unit and packaged flat and in any suitable size.

When starting to wrap an article such as the book 25', the user first manipulates plaque to fold tear strip 15 back upon itself longtiudinally of the weakened line 20 so that the folded tear strip lies flush against face sheet 12 in the manner made clear by FIGURES 2 and 5. The book or other article to be wrapped is then placed crosswise of the inner surface of the wrapper in the manner illustrated in FIGURE 3 while folding the wrapper snugly about the article. While the wrapper is thus held snugly about its contents, the protruding opposite ends of the wrapper are pressed downwardly against one another under pressure. They may be held closed in this manner by any suitable fastener such as staples 30, 30.

Desirably, however, the inner surface of the shipping wrapper is thickly coated with a pressure-sensitive material 33 (FIGURE 5) of any well known commercial type having the characteristics of adhering to itself but not to other materials. Such adhesives are extremely strong and fully adequate to hold the flattened opposite ends 34, 34 of the wrapper sealed closed without need for supplemental fasteners as staples 30. However, such staples may be added for additional protection if so desired.

It will be understood that the folded over tear strip is held snugly compressed flush against the exterior side of face sheet 12 owing to the fact that it embraces the edges of the snugly wrapped package. As will be recognized, any attempt to fiex the folded over edge of the tear strip outwardly from the package requires that this edge be lengthened in order to permit the described flexing. Since the sheet material has substantially no elastic properties, it is therefore quite impossible to flex the tear strip away from the package except by rupturing the same crosswise of its length.

To open the sealed package at its destination, the user merely grasps the free or over-folded edge of the tear strip at any point along its length and tears it or cuts it crosswise of the strip. Thereafter, the ends of the torn tear strip are grasped and pulled outwardly and backwardly along weakened lines 19, 21 until the tear strip has been removed and the entire wrapper separated into two tubular halves. Thereupon, the flattened ends 34, 34 of these halves are pulled away from one another and from the opposite ends of book or other article enclosed within the wrapper.

It will be quite apparent from the foregoing that the principles of this invention may be carried out equally as effectively using a single sheet of flat paper embodying therein the described tear strip. Likewise, the invention can be practiced using laminated sheets of multiple layers bonded together and at least one layer of which embodies the described strip.

While the particular Shipping Wrapper herein shown and disclosed in detail is fully capable of attaining the objects and providing the advantages hereinbefore stated, it is to be understood that it is merely illustrative of the presently preferred embodiment of the invention and that no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown other than as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A shipping wrapper comprising a one-piece plaque of single-face corrugated paper board having a narrow tear strip formed crosswise of said corrugations and free of corrugated paper throughout the length of said tear strip, said tear strip having three parallel weakened lines extending lengthwise thereof to facilitiate folding of said strip upon itself along its median axis and against the exterior of said face sheet to position the adjacent ends of said corrugations closely adjacent one another in endto-end abutting alignment, said wrapper being wrapable about an article to be shipped with said tear strip encircling and lying flush against the exterior of the wrapped article, and said strip being readily separable from the wrapper proper along said weakened lines thereby providing expeditious access to the wrapper contents at its destination.

2. A shipping wrapper comprising a plaque of flexible sheet material sufiiciently large to enclose contents to be wrapped therein, said plaque having a narrow tear strip extending thereacross and integrally connected to the sheet material to either side thereof by two parallel weakened lines and along which said strip is easily severed from the remainder of the plaque as the strip is pulled backwardly along itself from an end portion thereof, said strip being readily foldable against itself along the longitudinal medial axis thereof so as to lie flattened and flush against the exterior surface of said plaque when wrapped about contents of said wrapper means for holding the opposite ends of said wrapper closed together to either lateral side of said tear strip, and said closed wrapper being readily separable into two portions by severing said tear strip from the remainder of said wrapper along said superimposed parallel weakened lines thereby permitting the two portions of the separate wrapper to be withdrawn in opposite directions from the contents enclosed thereby.

3. A wrapper as defined in claim 2 characterized in that the opposite ends of saidwrapper to either side of said tear strip have the inner surfaces thereof coated with pressure-sensitive adhesive adherent primarily to itself and effective to hold said wrapper snugly Wrapped about contents when the coated surfaces of the protruding opposite ends of th wrapper are pressed firmly together.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,553,923 5/51 Lambert 229--87 2,679,349 5/54 Mullinix 22940 2,798,596 7/57 Emmons.

2,973,087 2/61 Rohdin 229-51 3,110,435 11/63 Layne 229355 JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

FRANKLIN T. GARRETT, Examiner. 

1. A SHIPPING WRAPPER COMPRISING A ONE-PIECE PLAQUE OF SINGLE-FACE CORRUGATED PAPER BOARD HAVING A NARROW TRIP STRIP FORMED CROSSWISE OF SAID CORRUGATIONS AND FREE OF CORRUGATED PAPER THROUGHOUT THE LENGTH OF SAID TEAR STRIP, SAID TEAR STRIP HAVING THREE PARALLEL WEAKENED LINES EXTENDING LENGTHWISE THEREOF TO FACILITATE FOLDING OF SAID STRIP UPON ITSELF ALONG MEDIAN AXIS AND AGAINST THE EXTERIOR OF SAID FACE SHEET TO POSITION THE ADJACENT ENDS OF SAID CORRUGATIONS CLOSELY ADJACENT ONE ANOTHER IN ENDTO-END ABUTTING ALIGNMENT, SAID WRAPPER BEING WRAPABLE ABOUT AN ARTICLE TO BE SHIPPED WITH SAID TEAR STRIP ENCIRCLING AND LYING FLUSH AGAINST THE EXTERIOR OF THE WRAPPED 